The invention relates generally to the field of drilling and processing of wells, and, more particularly, to a top drive with mounted winch for hoisting drilling equipment.
In conventional oil and gas operations, a well is typically drilled to a desired depth with a drill string, which includes drillpipe, drill collars and a bottom hole drilling assembly. The drill string may be turned by a rotary table and kelly assembly or by a top drive. A top drive typically includes a quill, which is a short length of pipe that couples with the upper end of the drill string, and one or more motors configured to turn the quill. The top drive is typically suspended from a traveling block above the rig floor so that it may be raised and lowered throughout drilling operations.
In conventional operations, to add a length of tubular (i.e., drillpipe or drill collar) to the drill string, a drillpipe elevator is coupled with the tubular to facilitate hoisting the tubular from the rig floor and into engagement with a top drive, which is used to couple the tubular to the drill string. To facilitate coupling of the tubular with the top drive, the tubular is aligned with the quill of the top drive and, consequently, with the center of the well. Drillpipe elevators are configured to couple with drillpipe by engaging a shoulder of a tool joint of the drillpipe. However, drillpipe elevators are generally not configured to couple with drill collars because drill collars do not include tool joints. Therefore, pickup subs are typically connected to one end of a drill collar to facilitate coupling between a drillpipe elevator and the drill collar. After a new length of drill collar is hoisted to the center of the well by the drillpipe elevator and added to the drill string, the pickup sub is removed from the drill collar and connected to the next length of drill collar to be hoisted by the drillpipe elevator.
In addition to tubular, it may be desirable to hoist other drilling equipment (e.g., top drive servicing equipment) toward the top drive quill throughout drilling operations. This equipment may not be configured to couple with a drillpipe elevator directly and, therefore, may require specific connectors to facilitate coupling with the drillpipe elevator. In conventional operations, drilling equipment and tubular may be hoisted with wire cables on pulleys positioned about the drilling rig, and in certain instances multiple pulleys may be used in order to bring a single piece of equipment or tubular into alignment with the quill of the top drive.
The process of coupling and removing connectors in order to add each new length of tubular to the drill string or to position equipment in alignment with the top drive is often time consuming and tedious. In addition, the use of wire cables on pulleys positioned about the oil rig to hoist drilling equipment can lead to cable entanglements. Accordingly, it is now recognized that these hoisting techniques are inefficient and there exists a need for a system and method for hoisting drilling equipment into alignment with the quill of the top drive without the use of connectors or multiple pulley arrangements.